Yes, that is Grant Park and Buckingham Fountain about an inch away, depending on your zoom level. Yes, that is the lake also an inch away. Yes, that is the park where live bands play during the summer every Thursday through Sunday, and yes, that is the perfect angle at which to view the fireworks over the lake several times a month. Yes, I agree, and my, what an astute observation you’ve made: It is, in fact, the best location in history.

It also comes with a bike. Don’t be too jealous.

I recently authored a post at The Differential, Medscape’s group medical student weblog, entitled “Discrimination in Science and Medicine.” Do not go there and read it under any circumstances.

Last night, snow was in the forecast.

Word to the 9th(!!) edition. Submissions go here. You, eventually, go here.

( baybs in the lab)

April 18, 2008

Sincerely,
Your Prompt Accountant Who Took A Month And A Half To Get Your Taxes Done…In The Nick Of Time!

Luckily I sent in my checks on the 15th, but if I hadn’t, this letter definitely would have reminded me to send them eight days ago. Thanks, Accountant!

I was thinking of going another direction for a while, but after yesterday, this one was staring me right in the face.

( Peters Digestx2, Vanity Fairest, LivinginChicago, Old MD Girl, DoctorScientist, Kendra)

I read a lot of girls’ blogs, apparently.

• Fail to close in the first place, and don’t tell your buyers until a mere few weeks before the updated, vastly early close date.

• Send your buyers very few, if any, letters, and generally communicate as little as possible regarding massive delays in groundbreaking, lack of progress in construction, and the overall progress of the building. Communicate as little as possible in general, and force your buyers to rely on mortgage brokers, lawyers, and realtors from other area developments to get any information at all about your property.

• Answer questions about number of units sold as abstractly as possible, if at all.

• Host parties for current buyers, but make sure no one shows up. Make sure anyone who is supposed to have information about the building and be able to answer questions isn’t actually equipped to do these things, but offer beer and cookies with aplomb instead.

• Ensure the sales center moves to a new location every few months, and also that none of these locations is anywhere near the development itself. This is very important. Also, don’t tell anyone, ever. You definitely don’t want your buyers visiting you for any reason.

• When you must send letters to buyers, do so as late as possible, and demand ridiculous sums of money within ridiculous time frames while you’re at it. As a totally hypothetical example, ask, say, for half of the cost of upgrades within the next week. Never, ever cash the checks you receive, and avoid answering repeated calls about these uncashed checks at all costs.

• Charge as much as possible for upgrades. Built-in desks should not be any less than a few grand.

• Be as shady as possible and manage your money very poorly.

You might have guessed that the condo we purchased over a year and a half ago officially fell through this week. The bad news is that we no longer have a place to move into shortly and that we’ve wasted the past year and a half waiting around for this place to be done and keeping a large sum of money in a completely stagnant account; the good news, of which there is much more than the bad, is that we can find a much cheaper place now, in a better location, and not have to wait for it. It’s not that we were hoping this would fall through, but—yes, that’s exactly what it is. Needless to say, we’ve been getting the most out of Craigslist over the past few weeks.

The craziest thing just happened. I’m at a loss for words, but, well, it was the craziest thing ever, and there’s no other way to describe it.

As I was pulling out of my parking spot this afternoon to head home to walk Charles, I heard two guys yelling and chasing each other near what is probably one of the busiest corners in Hyde Park. One of them was clearly verbally threatening the other and physically advancing toward him, and the second guy ended up running across the street, with the first guy chasing him, screaming for help and for someone to call the police. He was walking his bulldog, which really slowed him down. I had my windows open and could hear most of it, so I popped my hazards on, got out of the car, and reached for my phone. By the time I got around the back of my car, the first guy had tackled the second into the bushes and was pummeling him pretty well; the second guy was still yelling for help.

Being an area with heavy foot traffic, there were easily 30 people watching this happen from varying distances—some were half a block away, some only 15 feet. It was one of the most bizarre things I’ve ever seen, all these people sitting there watching this happen. I tried to dial 911 just after I’d gotten out of the car, but when I saw that they were already going at it, I sprinted over to them, grabbed the first guy, now completely on top of the second, and tried to pull him off. Following a brief wrestling match and a return to our feet, he realized there was an audience—everyone was still just standing there doing absolutely nothing—and ran across the street to get on a bus. I finally was able to call 911 and tell them where he was going and on what bus and what he was wearing. Although the university police station is literally a block away from where this all went down, it took easily three minutes for anyone to show up. When it was all said and done, six or seven cop cars showed up, all asking where the guy went.

I stayed for a while, made sure the second guy was alright (his face was pretty torn up…he’ll have a pair of shiners in no time), gave the police some info, and headed back to my car in the middle of the street.

That’s when I realized that one of the bystanders thought it might be nice to help himself to my iPod in the front seat.

Seriously, who does that? Hyde Park can be a crazy place sometimes. That’s the first time I’ve heard anything like this happen here, and the second in Chicago, but still…totally, completely crazy.

It could have been worse though. The car was running the whole time, and my computer and pretty much all my data along with it were sitting just as vulnerably in the back seat. Whew. Honestly, the way things are going in Chicago these days, I consider myself pretty lucky not to have had a gun or a knife pulled on me. Don’t think the possibility didn’t cross my mind.